MODERN ARCHITECTURE

/ INTERIOR DESIGN
• Arose as a rejection of the traditional Neoclassical architecture and Beaux-Arts styles that were popular in
the 19th century

• Valid for most of the 20th century

• Architects and designers designed with open floor plans, absence of ornamentation, and emphasis on
natural materials and surroundings of the space in a desire to break away from historical architectural
styles and to invent something that was purely functional

• Used more industrial and modern materials, merging craft traditions, fine art, and technology to build
structures that were stronger, lighter & taller

• Used new and contemporary building techniques particularly the use of cast iron, plate
glass, steel and reinforced concrete

• Form and function = important!

Important Technological Developments:

• Cast plate glass process invented in 1848 = large windows

• French industrialist François Coignet first to use concrete strengthened with iron bars = reinforced
concrete – he built the first reinforced concrete structure in 1853 – a four-story house in Paris

• The safety elevator inventor by Elisha Otis - demonstrated at the Crystal Palace exposition in 1852
- made tall office & apartment buildings practical

• Safe lighting in streets & homes became possible on an industrial scale: 1st gas lighting at end of 18th
century and then electric lighting from mid-19th century - greatly reduced dangers of fires and fumes
caused by gas
4 storey reinforced concrete building
by François Coignet
-

The Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton -

Great Exhibition of 1851 - an early
example of iron & plate glass
construction
Elements of Modern Design:

• Open floor plan

• Intelligent use of space

• Large windows and natural light

• Clean geometric lines

• Connecting indoors to out

• Natural, unaltered materials

• Feeling of spaciousness

• Minimal home décor – long low furniture

• Neutral colours
Further Developments:

World War II

• World War II (1939–1945) and its aftermath - a major factor in driving innovation in building
technology & architectural/design possibilities

• Wartime industrial demands = shortages of steel and other building materials - leading to
adoption of new materials such as aluminium

• Post-war housing shortages in Europe & United States = design & construction large scale
government-financed housing projects, usually in run-down centres where land was available

• Huge destruction caused by the war another factor in the rise of modern architecture - large parts
of major cities were destroyed by bombing
The Birth of the Skyscraper

• End of the 19th century - first skyscrapers began to appear in United States

• Response to shortage of land & high cost of real estate in the centre of American cities

• Response to availability of new technologies

• The first steel-framed skyscraper - The Home Insurance Building in Chicago - ten stories high - designed
by William Le Baron Jenney in 1883

• These buildings were revolutionary in their steel frames and height – but design of facades were more
traditional neo-renaissance, Neo-Gothic and Beaux-Arts architecture
 The first ‘skyscraper’:
The Home Insurance Building -
Chicago
Movements within Modernism:

• Art Nouveau 1900’s

• Cubism 1910’s

• Futurism 1910’s

• Art Deco 1920’s

• Expressionism 1920’s

• De Stijl 1920’s

• Bauhaus 1920’s

• Functionalism 1930’s

• Minimalism 1940’s

• International Style 1950’s

• Brutalism 1970’s
Art Nouveau

• Rebellion against formal, classical approaches to design

• Greatest beauty found in nature

• Asymmetrical shapes

• Extensive use of arches & curved forms

• Curved glass

• Plant-like embellishments

• Mosaics

• Stained glass

• Japanese motifs
Cubism

• Visual & philosophical ideas

• Yearning for honesty, integrity & simplicity

• Concerned with mechanisation – the machine

• Highlighting fusion of whole 3D structure - looking at what elements are on picture plane

• Blending abstract with fragments of observed reality

• Allowing space and form to merge

• Flat roofs, simple rectangular structures - reinforced concrete

• Geometrical forms - Rectilinear grids - Intersection planes

• Cantilevered concrete

• Le Corbusier - Architect
Futurism

• Highlight building elements or components of urban structure

• Mediation between invention and standardization

• Recessing of walls, piers, glazing & brick moulding

• Attacked traditionalism & championed expression

• In favour of revolutionary change & the machine

• Anti-traditional – tendency towards abstract

• Walter Gropius - Architect

Art Deco

• Deprivations of war gave way to opulence and extravagance

• Prevalent until start of World War II

• Streamlined and geometric shapes

• Modern materials - chrome, stainless steel & inlayed wood

• Some natural materials - graphic or textural - zebra skin etc.

• Bold shapes like sunbursts and zigzags

• Art Deco is one of the first truly international styles

• Furniture from the period - black leather and chrome chaise longue by Le Corbusier & Barcelona chair
by Bauhaus giant Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Expressionism

• Expressionism came from avant garde artists and designers in Germany and other European countries

• Many fanciful works were rendered on paper but never built

• Distorted shapes, fragmented lines, organic or biomorphic forms, massive sculpted shapes

• Extensive use of concrete and brick

• Lack of symmetry.

• Erich Mendelsohn – Architect

De Stijl
• Embraced an abstract, reduced aesthetic focusing on basic visual elements - geometric shapes and
primary colors.
• Reaction to the decorative excesses of Art Deco
• Reduced quality of De Stijl art was embraced as universal imagery of modernism - a new spiritual world
order
• The art and architecture movement was also known as neo-plasticism
Bauhaus

• Economy in Germany was collapsing after a crushing war

• Walter Gropius appointed to head a new institution - rebuild the country & create a new social order

• Institution called - the Bauhaus - called for a new "rational" social housing for the workers

• Promoted principles of creative collaboration — planning, designing, drafting & construction etc.

• Rejection "bourgeois" details such as cornices, eaves & decorative details

• Principles of Classical architecture in most pure form: functional – no ornamentation

• Flat roofs, smooth façades & cubic shapes

• White, gray, beige or black.

• Floor plans are open & furniture is functional

• Steel-frame with glass curtain walls —both residential and commercial

Functionalism

• A utilitarian structure - quickly constructed for purely practical purposes without any artistry

• Liberating philosophy - freed architecture from frilly excesses

• Focused on functional efficiency - the way a buildings is used and the types of materials available
should determine design

• Of course, Louis Sullivan lavished his buildings with ornamental details that did not serve any
functional purpose. The philosophy of functionalism was followed more closely by Bauhaus and
International Style architects.

• Louis Kahn - Architect

Minimalism

• Minimalist or reductivist design

• Open floor plans, few if any interior walls

• Emphasis on the outline or frame of the structure

• Incorporating negative spaces around the structure

• Using lighting to dramatize geometric lines & planes

• Stripping the building of all but most essential elements

• Tadao Ando - Architect

International Style

• A response to globalisation

• Globalisation = Western world order - spread of Western products and corporations throughout the world

• Individual rights more important than communities or nation - globally enforced equality of man

• Rise of international team of architects – “starchitects”

• Geometric, monolithic skyscrapers

• Rectangular solid with six sides, flat roof, curtain walls, no ornamentation

• Stone, steel & glass construction materials.

• Symbol of Capitalism

• Placelessness
Brutalism

• Grew out of the Bauhaus movement

• Rugged reinforced concrete construction

• Concrete takes on imperfections - roughness makes the concrete look raw

• Heavy & angular

• Exposed steel beams & large sculptural shapes

• Can be constructed quickly & economically

• Paulo Mendes da Rocha - Architect

“Form follows Function”
Louis Sullivan

“Less is More”
Mies van der Rohe
Notable architects important to the history and
development of the modernist movement include:
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
• Le Corbusier
• Walter Gropius
• Erich Mendelsohn
• Richard Neutra
• Louis Sullivan
• Gerrit Rietveld
• Oscar Niemeyer
• Alvar Aalto
Modern vs. Contemporary Interior Design: What’s the Difference?

• Modern design - aesthetic style of a specific historical moment

• Contemporary design – evolving styles of the current moment - describes design trends of today - not
necessarily rooted in any design style
 POST-MODERN
ARCHITECTURE /
INTERIOR DESIGN
• Postmodernism - a reaction or revolt against the Modernism

• Designers questioned whether architecture was a utopian remedy for social problems

• Wanted to offer something warmer, brighter & more experimental

• Creating something as various & individual as people

• Not a singular style - a combination of many styles

• Borrows from history - reacts to urban context - embraces decorative traditions

• Avoid cut-and-paste approach –collages of unexpected references & symbols

• Favouring local & individual expressions of place-making

• Form does not follow function!

• Importance of creating a sense of place – a relationship amongst occupants and spaces

Elements of Post-modern Design:
• Complexity
• Contradiction
• Transformation of everyday objects
• Makes use of cheaper materials
• Mixes cultures and traditions
• Humour / whimsy
• Attention to surfaces
Notable architects important to the history and
development of the post-modern movement
include:
• Robert Venturi
• Denise Scott Brown
• Michael Graves
• Philip Johnson
“Less is a Bore”
Robert Venturi